VILLEURBANNE : Design of the Grandclément plaza
Urban project management
Square design
Public space
Client :
Lyon métropole
BASE
+ Sitétudes
+ Les éclaireurs
+ Wild Architecture
+ BLD Waterdesign
Villeurbanne
MOE / 2018 ongoing
Budget / 5,5M€
The Jules Grandclément square is one of the central historic locations in the city, along with Cusset and Maisons Neuves-Ferrandière.
The development of a new centre in Villeurbanne aux Gratte ciel marked a transformation in the area; the Grandclement square became a polarity. Whilst it is still an important junction in the region of Villeurbanne, the challenge today is to restore the square to its role as a major centrality of Villeurbanne.
Works on transport in the area provide an opportunity to radically transform this site. The C3 bus transport link, the future T6 tramline and the reorganisation of automobile traffic in the area will change the composition of the site and the activities that take place here, thus helping to reconstruct the site’s image and identity.
The role of the square in the town will undergo a profound transformation. Once a vehicular crossroad, it will now function as a multimodal hub.
The re-designed old square will become central to the neighbourhood, renewing the surrounding urban environment. The square will provide an all purpose space, improving quality of life and providing new accessible soft transport links. The project is part of a sensitive layout plan that adopts new practices in public space.
The challenge in this project was to create space and to maximise the capacity of the existing site. Currently a traffic junction, it will become a new type of intersection; where soft transport links converge, where all sorts of activities can happen.
It’s about finding the genius loci of the site, the spirit of the place.
